Ireland has a unique opportunity to develop energy from the sea, but we must act quickly, writes THOMAS C FOLEY
'Don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity!" This often-used phrase for promoting questionable commercial deals applies to a very real opportunity today in Ireland - and there is nothing questionable about it. A unique opportunity stands before Ireland of a scale and fit almost too good to be true.
If I came up to you and said I knew how to get Ireland 20 per cent of the way toward its alternative energy goals, make it a world leader in an important emerging technology and create 10,000 or more new, high-value added jobs, you would probably be sceptical. But if I convinced you it was true, you would say "Let's get started!"
No less of an opportunity exists for Ireland with ocean energy. Ireland's high latitude, extensive coastline, position in the Atlantic, proximity to the continent of Europe, and admirable and ambitious alternative energy goals provide a unique advantage for the development of ocean energy.
The same isn't true of wind, hydro, geothermal, solar or nuclear energy, where other parts of the globe have advantages over Ireland.
Ireland's opportunity in ocean energy is the economic equivalent of having a horse at the track with a one-furlong advantage at the start - you would feel comfortable placing a big bet on that horse knowing you are almost sure to win.
The problem with opportunities is that they are fleeting. They don't sit around forever waiting for people to decide whether or not to pursue them. They tend to favour those who see pursuing opportunities as a race. If the horse with the furlong advantage doesn't begin running when the rest of the field breaks from the gate, the advantage will be lost in seconds. Ireland's ocean energy advantage will last more than seconds, but it won't be around forever as others pursue the opportunity and gain advantage in developing the technology and related products.
Ireland is already doing many good things. The Government, with the support of Minister Eamon Ryan and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, recently hosted an ocean energy conference in Galway at the Marine Institute. The institute develops ocean energy technology and has one of the best wave tank testing facilities in the world.
These efforts attract developers and create the potential for Ireland to create an ocean energy technology cluster - an important first step toward establishing a sustainable competitive advantage in an infant industry. Other good moves include the commitment of significant Government funding and Government policies that provide incentives to the marketplace to accelerate commercial development. But despite these good policy actions, progress toward a commercial scale installation, an important development goal, has been slow.
The reasons progress hasn't been faster may include the uncertainties that surround all new technologies. No one knows which ocean energy technology will emerge as the best, or how soon the cost of ocean energy will become competitive, or how the market will develop. These uncertainties present risks to bureaucrats, academics, and politicians, not to mention commercial developers.
Bureaucrats, academics and politicians, tend to be risk-avoiders rather than risk-takers. Their desire to eliminate uncertainty through additional analysis, or waiting for more clarity about outcomes, can result in opportunities being lost.
For Ireland to be best assured of taking advantage of the ocean energy opportunity, three things should happen:
1: The potential of the opportunity needs to be well-understood by those in a position to effect its development.
2: If it doesn't already exist, a co-ordinated strategy needs to be developed - including the Government, critical government and non-government institutions such as academia, ESB, technology developers and commercial implementers - that creates urgency through competitive timelines and ensures that neither time nor resources are wasted.
3: A primary focus of the strategy should be to assure that an ocean energy technology cluster is established somewhere in Ireland. If this happens, the jobs and wealth creation will follow.
Two examples may help illustrate the opportunity and the challenge. Finland in the 1980s had a similar advantage and opportunity as mobile telephone technology was in its infancy. Many homes in Finland were too far apart to be wired with conventional telephone landlines, creating a local and immediate market for the new technology.
Finland, by coincidence, also had extensive human resources in electronics that supported the development of mobile phone technology.
The result is Nokia and Finland's leading role in an important global industry.
The closest example illustrating how political leadership can grasp a challenge like this might be president John F Kennedy setting a goal and timeline for putting a man on the moon.
By identifying the goal, setting a timeframe, and committing the resources, he created the focus and urgency needed to succeed.
Ireland has its own bold and fitting technological and commercial opportunity. With strong leadership, good planning and commitment of resources, Ireland can succeed with the ocean energy challenge, too.
Thomas C Foley is US ambassador to Ireland